Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

South Africa produced a spectacular all-round performance to not only crush the West Indies by nine wickets, but take an unassailable 3-0 lead as well.

Spinner Imran Tahir starred with the ball as he took four wickets, while opener Hashim Amla and batsman Faf du Plessis excelled with the bat as they both made half-centuries.

West Indies captain Jason Holder would have been brooding over his decision to bat first after opening batsman Dwayne Smith was caught behind off the bowling of Vernon Philander for five runs.

Chris Gayle only made one run before he was also caught behind off the bowling of Philander.

Narsingh Deonarine scored 10 runs before he was caught behind off the bowling of Dale Steyn.

Denesh Ramdin fared no better as he was clean bowled by Steyn for two runs.

Marlon Samuels managed to make 26 runs before he was caught by Rilee Rossouw at long-off off the bowling of Tahir.

Andre Russell made 16 runs before he was cleaned up by Morne Morkel.

Jonathan Carter mustered 18 runs before he was given out lbw off the bowling of Tahir.

Carter reviewed the decision immediately, but replays showed that the ball was pitching in line and going on to clip leg stump. This led to the third umpire upholding the original decision.

Carlos Brathwaite failed to have an impact with the bat as well as he was given out lbw off the bowling of Tahir for four runs.

Brathwaite was not given out initially, but South Africa decided to review the decision. Since replays showed that the ball was pitching in line and going on to crash into the top of leg stump, the third umpire overturned the original decision.

Jerome Taylor did not make any runs as he was given out lbw off the bowling of Philander for a duck.

The West Indies were bowled out for 122 when Sulieman Benn was stumped by South Africa skipper AB de Villiers off the bowling of Tahir.

Tahir was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets, while Philander snapped up three, Steyn took two and Morkel chipped in with one.

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Chasing 123 to win, South Africa got off to a poor start as Rossouw was caught by Deonarine at mid-off off the bowling of Holder for seven runs.

Amla and du Plessis finished things off with an unbeaten 97-run partnership, during which both batsmen brought up their half-centuries.

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Amla ended up making 61 off 63 balls, which included nine boundaries, while du Plessis remained undefeated on 51 off 71 deliveries, which included five boundaries.

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Holder was the only bowler to take a wicket.

Holder was gutted to have lost again, and said: “We batted poorly, no other way to sum it up. We just kept losing wickets. Very disappointed. We didn’t make amends here for Sunday. We need to show pride in the last two games now. Our seniors players haven’t stepped up here but I still back them because they’ve done it for a numbers of years. The wicket was a little slow but there was nothing wrong with it. I can promise some improvement for Port Elizabeth.”

De Villiers was ecstatic to have taken an unassailable 3-0 lead, and said: “I’m very very happy with the performance today. We’ve said in the knockout stages of the world cup you’ve got to win three in a row and we’ve done that here. There were a couple of soft wickets. Anything over 200 would have been a good score today. For them, it’s just about learning and moving on from this experience. They are a world class team with world class players so to prove to ourselves we can win three in a row is very important. If you looked at the deck you would say it wouldn’t suit Vernon Philander but the way he bowled was fantastic. It’s important to have a look at everyone and we want to get all the guys in good form so we’ll definitely give everyone a go in the last two games.”

Philander edged out Tahir and Amla for the Man of the Match award.